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Readers in St. Catharines have been able to borrow books since the establishment of the Mechanics’ Institute in the 1840s, but that was essentially a private institution and patrons did have to pay a fee for the books they borrowed.

A Free Library was finally established in 1888, and at various times occupied rented spaces in the old Masonic Temple (later the Peninsula Press Building) on Ontario Street and — after a disastrous fire there in 1895 — on Queen Street, in one of the two buildings there where the Standard used to have its offices.

However, by then it was clear that the library should have a proper, permanent home, not just rented rooms. By 1903 the City of St. Catharines was able to combine its own resources with a generous grant from Scottish-American steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie to build itself such a facility, at the corner of James and Church Streets, next to Knox Presbyterian Church.

The design of the new building was made public in February 1903, ground for the building was broken later in that year, and the new library was formally opened on January 2, 1905.

The Carnegie Library served the city well over the next seventy-plus years, but by the 1970s it was clear that the institution had outgrown its 1905 building, despite additions made to it in 1939 and 1965. The Beckman Report in 1972 called for the construction of a new library building, and in March 1974 the Library Board formally asked for, and received, Council’s support for such an undertaking.

A site for the new building was found a block east of the old library, on Church Street across from the Cathedral. The new building became the main project to mark the centennial of the municipality, whose status had been changed from town to city in 1876 — thus the building’s name, the “St. Catharines Centennial Library.”

The plans for the new library were prepared by the architectural firm of Macbeth, Williams, Woodruff and Hadaway. The first sod was turned on Jan. 14, 1976. Our old photo this week was taken three months later, on April 6, 1976, and offers an aerial view of the Library work site. (Interesting details in the photo: the modern building at 110 James Street, corner of Church, was standing by then; the lot next to the Cathedral, where St. Joseph’s Convent used to stand, is still vacant; and Carlisle Street had not yet been extended from King Street north to Church.).

The new Centennial Library was formally opened on June 22, 1977, and has been an important element in this city’s cultural life now for the past 40 years.

Dennis Gannon is a member of the St. Catharines Heritage Advisory Committee. He may be reached at gannond2002@yahoo.com